Jump to content

Why people back into parking space?


Forrest Gump 9
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 71
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I love the people who back in to angled parking spots. What kind of fuckery is going through their mind. Now you are pointing the wrong way.

 

Perhaps, but think of parking garages after events downtown. Good fucking luck backing out. Id rather be slightly pointing the wrong way than have to sit there for 40 minutes because nobody wants to let you out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 reasons:

 

1) I worked as a valet in Boston and Columbus, and all companies I worked for required back-in parking. Makes it much easier to quickly bring a customer's car back up and it prevents lip scuffs on high end cars. When you spend hours a night every single night parking dozens of cars in backwards, it becomes habitual. I still park front-in to avoid backups in crowded/busy lots, but I always prefer back-in.

 

2) When I'm in a crowded lot, or a lot with narrow-ish spaces, I'll back in so my passenger side is next to the passenger side of another car. Every car will have a driver, but not every car will have a passenger, and thus if I give myself slightly more room on the driver side, it is far less likely that my car door will take a hit from another car door. Especially the case when backing in next to a nice/enthusiast car. Enthusiasts tend to not want to slam each others' doors, so as long as I make sure my passengers are super careful (ask them, I do, and it annoys the fuck out of them) then I expect the same from my parking neighbor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out on a limb assumption here. Of the people who back in, are you the always early everywhere you go person?

 

Yes.

 

Also, my truck is over 20ft long...backing in is a hell of a lot easier than pulling in. Also, I don't suck at driving and back it straight in every time.

 

Parking the truck in a parking garage downtown is always fun. :)

-Marc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It has become more of a habit since I purchased my Wrangler. It came with a hard top, and the removable front panels are well known to leak if you park on an incline. The most common suggestion was to park so the front of your Jeep was pointed down the incline, not up. Well my drive way has a grade to it so I started backing into my drive way so the front of the Jeep was lower and the back and I haven't had a leak since. Now I only run the hard top during the winter, but it become such a habit, I back in most places.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

To piss off my wife. She hates when I do it as she thinks I'm showing off.

 

Seriously though, I started doing it years ago when I was living with my mom right after college in her new house. The driveway is very steep and it was too tight of a right-hander to make it into the garage, so I would pull to the end of the driveway and back in. Made it much easier to get out of the garage. It's now a habit 9 years later. Even in my house now, the way our garage is, it gives us more room between my car and the wife's to open the doors without dinging each other if I go ass-first.

 

I find it also helps when you're trying to leave the grocery store/mall/wherever and your sandwiched between a minivan and a Suburban. A low car with tinted windows in the back makes for a sketchy maneuver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few reasons in my case and, no, it doesn't take me 10 minutes to park and, no, it doesn't take me 10 points to position a vehicle into a spot.

 

1. Most of my vehicles have a very low ride height in the front and I want the the vehicle to be parked as much away from the traffic as possible. In the case of the truck, the rear has more overhang then the front, so when parked with tail-end in, the front end is positioned at the most distance away from traffic; granted that there was a parking stop and not just an open spot.

 

2. For my job, I drive a panel van for a good part. While it has a reverse-view camera, it covers very little of the view of the cross traffic; it covers mostly, well, rear view. When I back the van up into a spot, I don't need to worry about the non-existent cross traffic and when it's time to depart, it is easier and quicker thus safety and speed are preserved.

 

3. Again, related to my job, I want a clear and direct escape path in front of the van at all times. Unless it's an open, pull-through spot belonging to double-row parking arrangement, the van will always be backed up into a spot.

 

4. Rear-steering has more maneuverability. In a tight parking lot with single rows, I much prefer backing up any vehicle into a spot.

 

The most important thing is because very much so I want to be THE JACKASS car enthusiast showing off my driving skills by backing up into a parking spot in one sweep.

 

Ever been to CC&C or any car-related events? Those fucking jackasses ...

 

I think it really depends on the situation, I almost always pull forward into a parking stall unless it's a busy ramp or parking lot. Definitely is easier to get out pulling forward, than backing out and certainly much safer. If it's a high curb or I am concerned about front end damage, I almost always back in. However with the new automatic parking features of the Tesla, it will only back into parking spots, which according to Elon musk was the original way parking lots were designed to be used. I have to say with the automatic parking feature, it takes only a couple seconds to back into a stall and certainly makes departing that stall much easier. The biggest problem in backing into a parking spot, is the person that pulls right up on your ass not knowing that you're going to be backing in.

 

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/transport/2011/02/youre_parking_wrong.html

 

Out on a limb assumption here. Of the people who back in, are you the always early everywhere you go person?

 

I'm posting this, backed in, waiting for my 9am appointment.

 

2 reasons:

 

1) I worked as a valet in Boston and Columbus, and all companies I worked for required back-in parking. Makes it much easier to quickly bring a customer's car back up and it prevents lip scuffs on high end cars. When you spend hours a night every single night parking dozens of cars in backwards, it becomes habitual. I still park front-in to avoid backups in crowded/busy lots, but I always prefer back-in.

 

2) When I'm in a crowded lot, or a lot with narrow-ish spaces, I'll back in so my passenger side is next to the passenger side of another car. Every car will have a driver, but not every car will have a passenger, and thus if I give myself slightly more room on the driver side, it is far less likely that my car door will take a hit from another car door. Especially the case when backing in next to a nice/enthusiast car. Enthusiasts tend to not want to slam each others' doors, so as long as I make sure my passengers are super careful (ask them, I do, and it annoys the fuck out of them) then I expect the same from my parking neighbor.

 

These. And Yes, i'm always early to my appointments. If you are early, you are on time. If you are on time, you are late.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the stock clutch guy who does 50 blips of the throttle, like it's a stiff 6 puck clutch, just to back up one car length? He's right there with the bike guy at a light, who HAS to rev the throttle the whole damn time. I bet the bike won't stall if you just let it idle.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Out on a limb assumption here. Of the people who back in, are you the always early everywhere you go person?

 

I'm posting this, backed in, waiting for my 9am appointment.

 

Funny you post this. Im always late, never back in. My roommate always early, always backs in. He says its from years of driving a fedex truck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1) I worked as a valet in Boston and Columbus, and all companies I worked for required back-in parking. Makes it much easier to quickly bring a customer's car back up and it prevents lip scuffs on high end cars. When you spend hours a night every single night parking dozens of cars in backwards, it becomes habitual. I still park front-in to avoid backups in crowded/busy lots, but I always prefer back-in.

 

It's sort of an old valet habit for me too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/4/8/10/anigif_enhanced-buzz-5037-1365431588-3.gif

 

Is this a real question? It's safer and easier to pull out..

 

/thread. Should've just locked it up.

 

Because I like to look at the front of my car as I walk away. It also doesn't take me multiple attempts to get my car lined up.

 

:wtf: You moon walk away from your car?

 

If you ask my wife the story of the first time we met she will tell you about how she was impressed I managed to back my truck into a small space in one shot.

 

So I back in because it gets chicks...

 

Owns truck. From Circleville. Gets chick by being able to park. Actually, story checks out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember hearing this a few years ago on Freakonomics:

 

Can Parking Direction Tell Us Anything About Company Morale?

December 30, 2011 @ 10:06am

by Stephen J. Dubner

 

A reader named Tim Wadlow writes in with an interesting theory:

 

"I spent about 10 years as a operations management consultant, working with dirty, dull, and dangerous manufacturing companies.

 

After spending time at roughly 100 manufacturing locations around the world, I noticed an odd trend: the direction that employees parked in their parking spots highly correlated with employee morale and satisfaction with their jobs. Most of the cars parked forward? A good company to work for, with employees who want to get to work. Most cars backwards? It seems as though the moment that the employee got to work, he or she was planning a quick exit.

 

Next time you drive by a manufacturing company check it out.

 

Maybe CEO’s should study Google Earth maps of their parking lots to determine if they are changing a companies culture?"

 

I love Tim’s thinking and would love to see someone test the idea empirically even though I have my doubts. The forward/reverse parking metric strikes me as too crude and too binary to tell us much of anything. But maybe I’m wrong.

One other thought: drug use is a big problem in some manufacturing plants; maybe employees who get to work stoned are more likely to park forward; and maybe that’s why companies with a lot of forward-parked cars tend to seem happier?

 

I'm sure there are many exceptions to this theory, but in the places I've worked, it's generally been true. People who pull into parking spots are eager to get to work; people who back into their spots are eager to leave.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...